#i know logically she should not be a full grown pony with a cutie mark but fuck it

[ectopuppy]

woke up this morning and thought "what if babygirl but pony?"

so i drawed her 💕😊

[commentonmlpfim]

comment on MLP FIM season 7 episode 17 "To Change A Changeling"

To my surprise, I am back again. While many didn’t think much of the episode or are fascinated by the exploration of the new Changelings, I was surprisingly focused on a different aspect. but to not ruin my usual format, guess I’ll have to leave that rant for later.  

1.      Character

1.1.   Starlight

1.1.1.She should not be allowed to help, with ANYTHING. So far Starlight’s help has cause some serious problems. While they ended well, I really wouldn’t want to push one’s luck.

1.1.2.Starlight speech, should not be Twilight speech. While I love how she begins to actually took on the friendship speech trait of Princess Sparkle butt, I can’t help but feel a bit out of place. I loved Starlight because of her own style of things, but her speech there just don’t feel like her. Where is that psychological manipulation, guilt trip, subliminal suggestion and overall badass psychological-warfare that I felt in love with?  

1.1.3.Starlight, babe, what the hell happen to you. You know how in my first comment I pretty much praised Starlight as an evil genius that should have world domination? Well, in this one episode I was forced to eat my words, and it tastes like crap. Did she really have no backup plans after leading the Molesworth to the changeling hive? We are talking about the master planner who enslaves an entire town for years, manage to take the cutie mark from the fable mane six, and capable of leading the pony version of suicide squad on a mission to stop queen chrysalis. You are telling me she wouldn’t have a backup plan? Just how many time did you have to smash her head in with the stupid stick?

1.1.4.You need to spend more time with Muad Pie, Trixie is bad for you. I understand people love Trixie, and I also understand Trixie is her first none mane six friends. But Trixie is honestly that one friend who puts you down time and time again to make herself feel big. At a certain point, it turns from a running joke into psychological domination, slowly turning you into her bitch, making you feel like you deserve the constant put down. And for that to happen to Starlight, the master of Psychological warfare, is just plain terrible.

1.2.   Trixie

1.2.1.She is really getting on my nerve. I will admit, I never really liked Trixie, she has always been way too egotistical for my taste. But I have only grown to dislike her more since she became Starlight’s friend. She showed affection to Starlight a few times, but those are quickly over shadowed by the constant put down, and manipulation she did to Starlight. In this one episode, she has shown her worst traits and pretty much thrown Starlight under the bus multiple times.

1.3.   Thorax

1.3.1.He is doing surprisingly well. From the way he talked in “triple threat”, I was half expecting the episode to be about a changeling civil war. Or at the very least he would still have a lot of opposition. But to my surprise, he actually took Ember’s advice to heart and are doing really well as a leader.

1.3.2.He has more of a spine than I give him credit for. So far, Thorax has seemed very spineless, cowardly, and overall a weak push over, even when he went full Alpha Bear mode in “triple threat.” He quickly fell back into his meek self upon realizing the situation. But this episode actually changes my view on him. He supported his brother, despite the whole hive was against his decision. He didn’t cave in, he sticks to his decision to the end, and for that, he had earned some respect from me. (and here I was planning for a good nickname for him, but alas, it was not meant to be)

1.3.3.He called out Starlight and Trixie’s BS and demanded they go with him to find Pharynx. I’m not going to lie. I never thought I’ll see that in MLP, let alone from Thorax. Too often, they character are busy chasing after their friends that they don’t call out other’s BS, that lead to the problem, even if they do, they rarely straight out demanded the responsible party to take responsibility.

1.4.   Pharynx

1.4.1.I love him. When I first saw him, I thought “on a look, the bad changeling that won’t reform. Guess we found our problem.” But as the episode gone on, I really started to like him. While yes, he is a problem with his attitude, but his points are very valid. In fact, I was completely on his side half way through the episode. He isn’t mean for the sake of being a jerk, he is mean because he realizes that the changeling has become a group of pushovers, and begin to lose their ability to defend themselves. Just like many people think policies are jerks, but they had to be, to ensure the safety of the masses.

1.4.2. I really hoped he didn’t transform. While yes, I don’t like the new design, but that was not the reason why I didn’t want Pharynx to transform. Pharynx fundamentally different from Thorax and most other changelings we saw, he is a warrior, and proud to be so. The changeling form represented an exterior expression of their change mentally and physically. They gone from aggressive and predatorial to passive and peaceful. While it is a logical step for changeling like Thorax, who are more passive and in many way pony like, it is not so for Pharynx. Even after his transformation, he did not change. He is still aggressive, and his love for his brother Thorax and the Hive exist even before his transformation. In this ways, the transformation was totally pointless. But on the other hand, his transformation actually became a hindrance to him, due to him losing his aggressive features, such as fangs.

2.      Other

2.1.   There goes the changeling civil war plot. Ever since the episode “triple threat”, many people in the fandom, me included, had dream of seeing the changeling civil war. Between those whom supports and against thorax’s new ideology. But sadly that plot was quickly shattered by a single sentence from Thorax in this episode. Well, there is always hopes of underground changeling resistance. But I don’t hold my breath.  

2.2.   So ponies can just freely enter changeling land now? As much as I would love to think that Starlight and Trixie are the exceptions, I honest do not believe that is the case. But if ponies now could freely enter changeling lands, just what kind of implication this could have? Maybe a certain pair of con-artist may decide to give them a visit? Perhaps, some of the threat from Equestria may wonder in? Or maybe some apples may want to expand their territory? I’m really looking forward to seeing what may come from this.

2.3.   Changelings are screwed. While love and friendship can solve many problems, but as the dread Molesworth as shown, the changeling’s adaptation of love and friendship may have gone a few mile too far in the other direction. They were pretty much powerless, and if Pharynx gone off to take care of it, in all likelihood, it would ended poorly for the hive. But with the way it looks, I really don’t think they will start building any military force, and I really don’t want to find out just how much Pharynx can do, before the changelings lost their very last “line of defense”.

Overall, I have mix feelings about the episode. While in some ways, it was really good. With Pharynx, a look into the new changelings and Thorax’s character development. But in other ways, it was very lacking. The story was pretty predictable, there was really no moral, and Pharynx’s transformation was nothing more than to clean up the story with a “nice bow”.

 I am Metal Cloud, and I really hope the next few episode won’t disappoint.